Climate of the Past Discussions www.clim-past-discuss.net 1814-9340 1814-9359 5 6 2009 10.5194/cpd-5-2555-2009 http://www.clim-past-discuss.net/5/2555/2009/ http://www.clim-past-discuss.net/5/2555/2009/cpd-5-2555-2009.html http://www.clim-past-discuss.net/5/2555/2009/cpd-5-2555-2009.pdf 2555 2575 2009-12-17 Interhemispheric coupling and warm Antarctic interglacials P. B. Holden N. R. Edwards E. W. Wolff N. J. Lang J. S. Singarayer P. J. Valdes T. F. Stocker Earth and Environmental Sciences, Open University, Milton Keynes, UK British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge, UK School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK Climate and Environmental Physics, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland Ice core evidence indicates that even though atmospheric CO₂ concentrations did not exceed ~300 ppm at any point during the last 800 000 years, East Antarctica was at least ~3–4 °C warmer than pre-industrial (CO₂ ~280 ppm) in each of the last four interglacials. During the previous three interglacials, this anomalous warming was short lived (~3 000 years) and apparently occurred before the completion of Northern Hemisphere deglaciation. Hereafter, we refer to these periods as "Warmer than Present Transients" (WPTs). We here present transient 800 kyr simulations using the intermediate complexity model GENIE-1 which suggest that WPTs could be explained as a consequence of the meltwater-forced slowdown of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) during glacial terminations. It is well known that a slowed AMOC would increase southern Sea Surface Temperature (SST) through the bipolar seesaw. Observational data supports this hypothesis, suggesting that the AMOC remained weak throughout the terminations preceding WPTs, strengthening rapidly at a time which coincides closely with peak Antarctic temperature. 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